McDowell suffers Sawgrass meltdown

It was not a repeat of Rory McIlroy’s complete nightmare at The Masters, but it was perilously close to it for Graeme McDowell as golf’s richest event turned sour on him at Sawgrass tonight.

Korean KJ Choi won the £1million-plus first prize at the Players Championship after American David Toms, having made a brilliant 17-foot birdie putt to tie on the last, three-putted from the same distance at the first extra hole.

As for McDowell, he was three clear with one to play in the third round earlier in the day, but double-bogeyed the 18th and then shot a closing 79, the worst score of anybody in the final round.

The Northern Irishman, trying to add what is often referred to as golf’s unofficial fifth major to his US Open win last summer, finished way down in 33rd place.

It gave him an inkling of how his Ryder Cup partner McIlroy felt at Augusta last month when he went from four clear to 10 behind and only joint 15th with an 80.

“To be honest I felt I ran out of steam a little bit,” McDowell said.

“After bogeys on six and seven I felt the energy sucked out of me. I went flat and everything I tried to do went a little wrong.

“I went chasing and this course will do that to you. I didn’t have the energy levels to pick myself up.

“This will hurt for a few hours, but I’ve taken some big steps this week and I will move on quickly.” It is next stop Spain this week for the Volvo World Match Play.

Luke Donald, meanwhile, also came up short in his bid for the victory that would have taken him to world number one for the first time.

He was still in with a chance at three behind after a two-putt birdie on the 16th, but missed an 11ft chance at the next and, needing a birdie at the last to retain an interest, did well to make par after a wild drive out right.

Paul Goydos, who lost a play-off to Sergio Garcia in the event three years ago, came third and Donald shared fourth with Nick Watney.

That makes it seven top-10 finishes in a row for the Englishman and 12 in his last 13 starts going back to September.

Choi, 40, grabbed his eighth victory in America – more than any other Asian player – after trailing Toms by one with three to play.

Toms, without a win for more than six years and down at 75th in the world, bogeyed the long 16th after hitting his second into the lake, then Choi holed from 10ft for birdie at the 130-yard 17th.

But off a drive that finished in a sand-filled divot, Toms hit a superb approach to the last to set up a birdie and take the event into sudden death after they both finished 13 under par, two in front of Goydos.

The day started with the completion of the third round and when McDowell birdied the 16th and 17th he was six under for the round and firmly in command.

But he had a bad break on the last when his approach kicked off the side of a mound right across the green and into the lake.

After signing for a 68 he was leading by one and still in high spirits, but that soon changed.

It all started to go wrong on the 393-yard sixth, moments after he had the bonus of a 50-foot birdie putt on the previous green.

McDowell carved his tee shot into the trees, then, after bogeying that hole, hooked his drive down the seventh into the lake and dropped another shot.

Worse was to come. Going for the green in two on the long ninth he hooked again into a small bush and, seeing no better option than to have a thrash at the ball, moved it only a few feet.

The next shot found rough and although he got up and down, it meant a bogey six.

Not that he was out of it at that point – he turned three behind Toms – but after finding the water at the short 13th and bogeying yet again his hopes were hanging by a thread.

And that thread was cut when he bogeyed the 15th and hit it into the lake on the 17th and 18th again.

McDowell and Donald, wearing navy blue in memory of the late Seve Ballesteros, were both trying to become the third European winner of the title after Garcia in 2008 and Henrik Stenson 12 months later.

Instead, Choi became the fourth successive non-American to lift the trophy after South African Tim Clark’s win last year.